Dragonriders of Pern Movie? Yes Please!

“It is said that a picture can say a thousand words. Well, so can a thousand words. They are the keys by which we can unlock new and amazing worlds, some of which ascend beyond the imagination, and it all begins on the first page.” – BookNerd

Greetings Fellow BookNerds,

I’m sure many of you have heard the exciting news already, but for those of you still in the dark, it has been announced that there is going to be a movie adaptation of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern!I guess this would only be exciting for those of you who have actually read the series, so for anyone who hasn’t… well, what are you waiting for? If there’s a bookstore nearby, find there science fiction section and get yourself a copy of Dragonflight, which I am almost one hundred percent certain is the very first book of the Pern universe, which began all the way back in the 1960’s, a true testament to just how amazing this series really is.

Basically, it’s a story set in a future where most forms of advanced technology no longer exist, reminiscent of a more medieval time period where the people are governed by lords, the lands are divided into different Holds and Weyr’s, and of course there are dragonriders – hence the title – which is really all the allure you need to get into it.

Humans have colonized a planet called Pern, located in the Rukbat system, and which is under the constant threat of Thread, which is some kind of space spore given off by the another planet called the Red Star every fifty years or so. The only means they have of defending themselves during the Threadfalls, as they call it, are their dragons, an indigenous species on the planet along with fire lizards and other native and non-native organisms, who are able to produce a phosphine gas from the consumption of firestones, which is not only very flammable, but also very potent against Thread.

What is really unique about this series is that even though your first assumption is that it’s of the fantasy genre, it turns out that it is very much science fiction. Even though technology doesn’t really exist anymore, they still come across remnants of it throughout the series, from when humans first began colonizing other planets. There is also a form of genetically engineered bugs called Grub, which were created by humans to be able to eat Thread. Even the dragons and fire lizards were subject to human experimentation, which increased their intelligence and allowed humans to work alongside them.

Anne McCaffrey, who unfortunately passed away in 2011, developed a word that embraces what I feel to be the bests aspects of both science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t wait to see for myself what kind of movie they will give birth to. Of course, I never get my hopes too high at the prospect of a book hitting the big screen, for we have seen what can happen when the responsibility is given to the wrong people. I am still getting over the disaster that was Eragon, and my disappointment in everything that was left out of the fourth Harry Potter movie. Of course, there have been many successes as well, like The Fault In Our Stars, and all of the other wonderful harry potter movies, so there is always hope.

I actually got into this series after playing the video game version of it on my brothers Dreamcast Sega, which in my opinion had some of the best games I’ve ever played… even if the graphics weren’t always the best, but they were the early days of gaming after all. Anyway, I was really into the video game, which admittedly wasn’t that great voice acting and visuals wise, but was still entertaining nonetheless. I would be over the moon happy if someone were to revamp this game, because even though it wasn’t the greatest, it has a lot of potential, and we more than have the technology and the know how to makes it into one of the most beautiful and enticing games of our era.

So at the time, I actually had no idea that this game was based on an entire series of books. It also happened to be during a time when the only books I had really gotten into were the Harry Potter books. It was certainly a pleasant surprise, however, when I came across the literary Pern universe, and I didn’t hesitate to buy the first three books of the series… well, I’m fairly certain they’re the first ones. There are so many books in the series now, that it’s kind of hard to tell anymore, but they made sense when I read them in the order I did.

I was also very happy to hear that Anne McCaffrey’s son, Todd, has been continuing the series. Of course, this just means that it’s going to take me even longer to get through the whole series. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, for as I’m sure I have mentioned before, I hate it when a really good book comes to an end. For me, books are a lot like a pack of reeces peanut butter cups; it’s such a good feeling knowing that even after you’ve eaten one, there are still two more waiting for you to sink your teeth into. 🙂

If you have any thoughts or opinions on the Dragonriders of Pern series, or on the upcoming movie adaptation, feel free to leave them in the comments below or on my blogs Facebook page. I would love to hear what you have to see, and as always, keep on reading!